July 8, 2006

I’ve seen both Who Killed the Electric Car and An Inconvenient Truth this week, and while I’ve always been environmentally aware, these great films bring a strong call to action for all members of our global community–especially Americans, who often choose to see and hear no evil. I am strongly urging that everyone see these films, especially An Inconvenient Truth.

The following is what I posted on my new IMPACT site on stopglobalwarming.org.Please visit the site. Other great sites are pluginamerica.com and whokilledtheelectriccar.com.

The problems of waste and global environmental instability are out of control. We’ve abused nature to the point where our existence is endangered. There are too many chemicals and toxins in our environment, and living without these chemicals is seen as an exception, not a rule, in American society. There must be more organic and chemical-free alternatives in the marketplace, and they must be accessible to people of all economic backgrounds. People of all economic strata must be educated about how serious the situation is–this education in science and human health is currently not happening in the majority of American schools. There is no coincidence between the decline of real teaching in American schools and the sorry state of our current “democracy.” The United States is singlehandedly ruining the rest of the world while simultaneously oppressing its own citizens.

The definition of the “American dream” must be changed. Having your own house and 2 or 3 cars is incredibly taxing to the planet and not necessary. How happy are you if your city is not walkable due to pollution or a lack of pedestrian paths? How happy are you, with all your objects and slave-labor clothes, if a devastating hurricane –magnified by warmer ocean waters from global warming–destroys everything?

Americans need to learn that they can have a decent standard of living and quality of life without ruining the planet or ingesting commercialized food/ products that ruin their bodies. The culture of consumption benefits the few who monopolize our precious natural resources while hurting the many who are having an increasingly difficult time surviving. Global warming is the number one issue of our time because it incorporates all forms of social and economic justice in it. I’ve been born into a polluted, contaminated world. So have we all–and we must enter a new age of caution in order to ensure the planet’s survival for the next generation. It doesn’t mean we have to live austerely–we need to invest in environmentally friendly technology and education. Solar, water, wind–we have these now. Let’s use them. People can make a living doing the right thing. We need a global purity movement–pure food, pure air, pure government, liberated from corporate influence.

The free market will not change this on its own. It takes political pressure from the people directly onto the government to make the laws and the standards that big business has to follow. Like it or not, most of us don’t make our own soap or grow our own vegetables anymore. So we’re all reliant in some form or another on corporations. But there is no reason on earth why these companies can’t make a profit without hurting the planet. Currently, they’re passing the costs of their production down to us–we all pay the price when the earth is ravaged.